Month: November 2005

One week of work

I’ve been back at work for one week now. It has been tough after three months of relaxing and enjoying myself! Back to 4 hours travelling every day, a crowded bus in the morning, deadlines, questions which the banking experts have to think about when I ask them, and answers which I have to implement in software. At least I still have a lot of overtime to take off, and vacation. I wonder if Mike & Chris would have me back next year… 😉

Back to work

I returned to work yesterday – quite a change from the past three months! I spent the first day catching up with the details of the takeover of our company, and starting to put out feelers for possible future projects. (I plan to leave the project I’ve been working on for the past three years sometime early next year.) The third person to see me after I walked in the door asked me if I would join his project! We’ll see – it is with another section of the same bank I’m working for right now, and I’d prefer to work for another customer for a while. My new boss is ready to make opportunities for me to change, so the perspectives are good.
Today, I returned to the project I was working on before my holidays. That was tough, because nothing much seems to have changed: the same expectations, much the same problems, and the pressure has almost returned to how it was in the bad old days, having eased off earlier this year. I don’t have to hold out much longer, thankfully.

Revolution, Chapter 7

Barna’s examines why the congregational church is declining, suggesting that it is a consequence of the specialisation of the church: churches for different generations, different worship styles, outreach to specific parts of the population and so on. (Aren’t these the very things promoted by much church growth literature? It seems rather ironic that Barna is suggesting that these are factors in the decline of congregational church.) He continues by examining newer, focused ‘micro’ models of church.

Back to Barna, after some weeks of travelling!
This chapter is a cursory examination of newer expressions of church, how they affect people’s faith, and why people choose them.
“The congregational model of church … has been the dominant force in people’s spiritual life for hundreds of years. So why is it so rapidly losing ground at this moment in history?”
Barna’s first answer is that it is a consequence of the specialisation of the church: churches for different generations, different worship styles, outreach to specific parts of the population and so on. (Aren’t these the very things promoted by much church growth literature? It seems rather ironic that Barna is suggesting that these are factors in the decline of congregational church.) Continue reading “Revolution, Chapter 7”

Sophie Scholl

On Sunday night, we watched the movie Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage, which shows the last few days in the lives of Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans, members of a passive resistance group in Germany during World War 2. It is a moving film, based on official records and eye-witness accounts. They were arrested for distributing leaflets describing the true state of the war and challenging people to face the fact that Germany could not win against Russia, Britain and the USA.
The evidence against them was initially flimsy and circumstancial, so they tried to avoid imprisonment by denying involvement. As the evidence mounted, Sophie openly admits her involvement, and refuses to take the offered means of lessening her penalty, because she would have had to deny her convictions that what they had written was right and true. The film does not show Hans’ interrogation, but the implication is that he responded similarly. The Scholls and other members of their group were sentenced to death in an effectively staged trial. Sophie, Hans and one other member of the group were executed later that same day.
I hope that I would demonstrate the same courage and conviction, although I very much hope never to be in similar circumstances.

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Food, and lots of it

Slow cooking spaghetti bolognaiseIt was a weekend full of food: on Saturday, Mary-Anne used our new slow cooker for the first time, making an excellent spaghetti bolognaise. Andrea joined us for the evening, which we spent talking about what has been going on in our lives since I left for the US. We always enjoy spending time with her, having fun, but also talking about the important stuff. (Andrea, I hope the video worked out OK!)
On Sunday, we started out with communal breakfast before church. Far more people turned up than we expected, so we had to quickly set up more tables. Hanni and Hans had invited us for lunch: venison in a mushroom sauce with sprouts, Spätzli, baked apple with cranberry sauce, and red cabbage. They are both excellent cooks, and always serve good wines, too. Wonderful!
In the evening, we visited our new friends Stefan and Yvonne, taking the rest of Saturday’s spaghetti bolognaise (Mary had made far too much…). It was another enjoyable evening of good discussions.

Decorating

So, I’ve finally got around to starting some decorating. I’d been planning to do it in the weeks after returning from the USA, but then the trip to England got in the way. I bought the paint and washed down the walls today; tomorrow, I’ll start the real business – in the darkest corner of the house, so that my first feeble attempts in many years are not too visible 🙂

A surprise end

We met as a house church for the first time since my return from the US on Tuesday evening. The couple in whose house we meet surprised us by saying that they want to stop with house church, and look for something else. During my time in the US, I began to sense that it was time for some changes in our house church, but this was not what I had anticipated. Right now, we’re not sure what our next move will be. What is the Spirit saying?

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